India’s newcomer in Test cricket, Akash Deep received a warm welcome in the team from star Indian batter, Virat Kohli ahead of the first Test against Bangladesh. The Rohit Sharma-led Men in Blue are set to take on Bangladesh in a two-match Test series, followed by a three-match T20I series in October. But ahead of the opening Test, Virat Kohli shared a special moment with Akash Deep, who got a call-up along with Yash Dayal in the squad for first Test against Bangladesh.
Deep, however, is not the first player to receive such a gift, he joined the likes of Rinku Singh and Vijaykumar Vyshak to receive a bat as gift for batting stalwart Virat Kohli. The pacer, who is also Kohli’s teammate in Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) since 2022, took to Instagram to share a picture of Virat Kohli’s MRF sponsored bat with the caption reading, “Thanq bhaiya”.
Fans react as Akash Deep gets bat as gift from Virat Kohli
After Akash Deep shared picture of this moment, fans instantly took to social media to react, recalling how Virat Kohli refrained from providing another bat to Rinku Singh after the latter broke the first one which was presented by the former India captain. Taking to X (formerly called Twitter), fans hilariously expressed sympathy with Rinku Singh, flooding social media with hysterical memes.
While Rinku Singh became a part of the meme fest, a few others related this to snippets from Bollywood movies, speaking of betrayal. Check out how fans reacted to this:
The 26-year-old Rinku Singh was last seen playing for India B in the second round of Duleep Trophy 2024. Featuring in Abhimanyu Easwaran-led side, Singh scored six runs off 16 balls in his only inning in the match at the Rural Development Trust Stadium B in Anantapur, which saw the match between India B and India C end in a draw. However, it is to be seen if he gets to feature in the third and final round where India B will take on India C at the ACA ADCA Ground in Anantapur.